Md.: Benefits paid to ineligible recipients

Maryland paid $46 million in unemployment insurance benefits to people ineligible for the assistance in fiscal 2010, state officials said Tuesday, the Washington Examiner reports.

The payouts represent roughly 5 percent of the state's total unemployment insurance payments in fiscal 2010 -- a 25 percent increase from last year.

Julie Squire, assistant secretary of unemployment insurance for the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation said her department identifies overpayments by scanning national and state employment databases to flag newly hired workers who are continuing to collect benefits.

The agency is ramping up efforts to reclaim the overpayments, she added. DLLR orders paybacks by mail and in some cases will intercept tax returns to acquire the money.